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Welcome

This website is all about Saitou Hajime and the Shinsengumi. If you like them then you're in good company! I'm Kizu the admin for this site. Safetygirl is my faithful "kosho" and co-admin. Welcome to HNK!

A big Shinsengumi 2013!!

Some great stuff to look forward to in 2013 for us Shinsengumi fans! 2012 was a big year for Hakuouki and Rurouni Kenshin and that looks to continue!
- On the Rurouni Kenshin front - there is still no announcement for a North American release of the live action movie, so keep your fingers crossed! Last year's animated OAVs were licensed by Sentai and under the title Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc will be released on DVD/Blu-Ray on March 5th. Watsuki's "revamp" of the RK story has been licensed by Viz. Rurouni Kenshin Restoration volume 1 comes out in June and volume 2 in September.
- Hakuouki roared into the US last year with the game and the anime and there's more to come! Hakuoki: Warriors of the Shinsengumi is coming out for the PSP from Aksys on February 26th! This is a fighting game, not a romance/story game but there will still be lots of eyecandy. ;) The anime continues its release, with the OVAs getting an April 23rd release as Hakuoki OVA: A Memory of Snow Flowers. Sentai does have season 3, so look for that later this year. In Japan, there will be a movie. The Hakuoki franchise is also expanding, with new games coming out this year, but it's about the -other- side. :P
- Kaze Hikaru is still going strong in Japan. In the US, Viz has listed the 21st volume for an August release. Annual releases aren't ideal, but hopefully the strong, if tiny, KH fanbase will continue to support the series
- JManga has been releasing both of the Peacemaker/Peacemaker Kurogane series, and they're now up to 4 on PMK, which is as far as Tokyopop goes. Let's hope they do 5 and 6 so I don't have to translate German! :D

Sentai Filmworks licenses our favorite Animes

For those who gave up hope that two of our beloved Shinsengumi-related anime would never hit Western shores, REJOICE! You have more to look forward to in the upcoming months.

At ACEN, they announced that Hakuouki will be released. According to ANN it will be on bilingual DVD and includes "all of the Hakuouki out right now". That's amazing news! But you know I always did think this one would be licensed especially with how the PSP sales did really well.

Another sleeper hit, one that I thought would never see the light of day was Bakumatsu Irohanihoheto. Sentai Filmworks will release it under the name of "Intrigue in the Bakumatsu - Irohanihoheto.

Rurouni Kenshin Shin Kyoto-hen BD/DVD gets release date!

According to kenshin-tv, Rurouni Kenshin Shin Kyoto-hen Blu-ray and DVD will be released on March 21, 2012. It will contain the first part of the movie shown in Japan theaters this December. There is a limited edition release with a picture book containing 261 pages, including setting drawn by Hiromitsu Hagiwara the character designer.

Bluray will cost 6,615 JPY while DVDs will be 5,565 JPY. There is no announcement yet of a US release. Keep your fingers crossed.

Manga creator Nobuhiro Watsuki will be resuming his Rurouni Kenshin series for a brief run starting in the June issue of Shueisha's Jump Squaremagazine, which will ship on May 2, 2012. The magazine's advertising describes the samurai manga's return as a "reboot," although the magazine may not be using the term with the English denotation in mind. More details will be in upcoming issues of Jump Square.

In the meantime, Watsuki is putting his current manga series, Embalming - The Another Tale of Frankenstein, on hiatus as of the March issue ofJump Square magazine, which will ship in February. Embalming will return in the fall. This manga has been running in Jump Square since its inaugural issue in 2007.

Keishi Ōtomo's live-action Rurouni Kenshin film will open in Japan on August 25, 2012. The first half of the new Rurouni Kenshin: Shin Kyoto-Henanime project just opened in two theaters last week, and the second half is slated to be completed next summer. Viz Media publishes the manga in North America.

Total War Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai

Computer game fans watch out! This coming March 2012 - the much acclaimed Total War Shogun 2 published by Sega will have a new -stand alone- installment based on the Bakumatsu! What makes this special? The Shinsengumi will be in it as a new agent type under the playable Tokugawa clan. Did you see that coming? Of course you did! We are Shinsengumi fans after all.

What is stand alone? Well it means that this isn't an expansion pack - it's a full blown game and you don't need Shogun 2 to play it. That's welcome new to most of us who don't yet own Shogun 2. If you want more info please visit the official page.